sufficient to have shewed the natural Causes of all Fiery Meteors THE THIRD BOOK Of Airy Impressions UNder the name of Airy Impressions be comprehended such Meteors whose matter is most of the Air. Of this sort be Winds Earthquakes Thunder Lightnings Storme-Winds Whirlwinds Circles Rainbowes The White Circle called of some WATLING street many Suns many Moons Of Winds THe Wind is an Exhalation hot and dry drawn up into the Air by the power of the Sun and by reason of the weight thereof being driven down is laterally or sidelong carried about the Earth And this Definition is not to be understood of general Winds that blow over all the Earth or else some great Regions but besides these there be particular Winds which are known but only in some Countries and them not very large These Winds oftentimes have another manner of generation and that is on this manner It must needs be confessed that within the globe of the Earth be wonderfull great holes caves or dungeons in which when Air aboundeth as it may by divers Causes this Air that cannot abide to be penned in findeth a little hole in or about those Countries as it were a mouth to break out of and by this meanes bloweth vehemently yet that force and vehemency extendeth not far but as the wind that commeth forth of bellows neer the comming forth is strong but far off is not perceived so this Particular Wind in that particular Country where it breaketh forth is very violent and strong in so much that it overthroweth both trees and houses yet in other Countries not very far distant no part of that boysterous blast is felt Wherefore this Wind differeth from the general Winds both in Qualities and Substance or Matter for the Matter of them is an Exhalation and the Qualities such as the nature of the Exhalation is very Airy but not Air indeed but of this particular Wind the Matter and Substance is most commonly Air. There is yet a third kinde of Wind which is but a soft gentle and cool moving of the Air and commeth from no certain place as the general Wind doth yea it is felt in the shadow under trees when in the hot light and shining of the Sun it is not perceived It commeth whisking suddenly very pleasant in the heat of Summer and ceaseth by and by this properly is no Wind but a moving of the Air by some occasion As for the general Winds they blow out of divers Quarters of the Air now East now West now South now North or else inclining to one of the same Quarters Among which the East-wind following the nature of the Fire is hot and dry the South-wind expressing the quality of the Air is hot and moyst the Western blast agreeing with the Waters property is cold and moyst the North that never was warmed with the heat of the Sun being cold and dry partaketh the condition of the Earth The middle Winds have middle and mixed qualities after the nature of those Four principal Winds more or less as they incline toward them more or less Generally the profit of all Winds by the wonderfull wisdom of the Eternal God is very great unto his Creatures For besides that these Winds alter the Weather some of them bringing rain some driness some frost and snow which all are necessary there is yet an universal Commodity that riseth by the only moving of the Air which were it not continually stirred as it is would soon putrify and being putrified would be a deadly infection to all that hath breath upon the Earth Wherefore this wind whose sound we hear and know not from whence it commeth nor whither it goeth for who can affirm from whence it was raised or where it is laid down as all other Creatures beside does teach us the wonderfull and wise providence of God that we may worthily cry out with the Psalmist and say O Lord how manifold are thy works in wisdome hast thou made them all c. Let this be sufficient to have shewed the generation of the Winds Of Earthquakes AN Earthquake is a shaking of the Earth which is caused by meanes of wind and Exhalations that be enclosed within the caves of the Earth and can find â—o passage to break forth or else so narrow a way that it cannot soon enough be dilivered Wherefore with great force and violence it breaketh out and one while shaketh the Earth another while rendeth and cleaveth the same somtime it casteth up the Earth a great hight into the Air and somtime it causeth the same to sink a great depth down swallowing both Cities and Townes yea and also mighty great Mountaines leaving in the place where they stood nothing but great holes of an unknown depth or else great lakes of Waters Of divers kinds of Earthquakes DIvers Authors write diversly of the kinds of Earthquakes some making more and some less but we shall be content at this time to comprehend them in four sorts The first kind is when the Earth is shaken laterally to one side which is when the whole force of the wind driveth to one place and there is no other contrary motion to let it This wind if it be not great shaketh the Earth that it trembleth as a man that hath a fit of an ague and doth no more harme but if it be great and violent it looseth the foundations of all buildings be they never so strong and overthroweth whole Cities but especially the great buildings and not only such buildings but somtimes also casteth down great Hilles that cover and overwhelm all the valleys under them Many noble and great Cities have been overthrown by this kind of Earthquake It is written that twelve of the most beautifull Cities and most sumptuous buildings in all Asia were overthrown and utterly destroyed with an Earthquake How often Antiochia yea within short time was destroyed they which have read the Histories can testifie How terrible was the Earthquake that shook Constantinople a whole year together that the Emperour and all the people were fain to dwell abroad in the fields under tents and pavilions for fear their houses would fall on their heads it is recorded in the Chronicles and worthy to be remembered The second kind is when the Earth with great violence is lifted up so that the buildings are like to fall and by and by sinketh down again this is when all the force of the winds striveth to get upward after the nature of gunpowder and finding some way to be delivered out of bondage the Earth that was hoysied up returneth to his old place The third kind is a gaping rending or cleaving of the Earth when the Earth sinketh down and swalloweth up Cities and Townes with Castles and Towers Hilles and Rocks Rivers and Floods so that they be never seen again Yea the Sea in some places hath been drunk up so that men might have gone over on
so gross and thick which for the most part are drawn so thin from the Earth that they are invisible as the Air is And although they are known often times as Aristotle witnesseth to be in the lowest region of the Air neer to the Earth insomuch that sometimes they fall down to the Earth with great noise to the great fear of men and no less loss and danger yet may it be reasonably thought that these Clouds were generated in the middle region of the Air far distant from the Earth which by their heaviness do by little and little sink down lower into the lowest region and sometimes also fall down to the Earth The Common Opinion is that they goe not higher then nine mile which because it leaneth to no reason is uncertain Albertus Magnus whose reason also is to be doubted of affirmeth that the Clouds do scarce exceed Three miles in height when they are highest And some let not to say that oftentimes they ascend not past the half of One mile in height Again Others pretending to finde out the truth by Geometrical Demonstrations make it aboue Fifty mile to the place where the generation of Clouds is How these men take the distance from the Earth it is uncertain whether that they assigne the least distance and meane it from the highest parts of the Earth as are hill tops or from the common playn Again whether they that assign the highest distance to be from the lowest valleys of the Earth or from the hill tops The Reason before shewed moveth me to think that the most usual and common generation I mean the condensation or making thick of these thin Vapors into Clouds is in the middle region of the Air but for the distance of the Clouds when they be generated I think they be sometime Nine mile sometime Three mile sometime Half a mile and sometime less then a Quarter of a mile from the Earth Of Mists THere be Two kindes of Mists the one ascending the other descending That which ascendeth goeth up cut of the Water or the Earth as Smoak but doth not commonly spread over all other parts it is seen in Rivers and moist places The other Mist that goeth down toward the Earth is when any Vapor is lifted up into the Air by the heat of the Sun which being not strong enough to draw it so high that the Cold may knit it suffereth it after it is a little made thick to fall down again so it filleth all the Air with the gross Vapors and is called Mists being usually a Sign of fair Weather Of empty Clouds THere be certain Cloudes that are empty and send no Rain they come of two sorts One sort are the Remnants of a Cloud that hath rained which cannot be converted into water for their dryness Another sort is of them that are drawn up out of wett and dry places and be rather Exhalations then Vapors that is they be dry hot and light so that it were hard for them to be turned into Rain they look white like flocks of wooll when the light striketh into them There be also empty Clouds which when the Winds have dispersed abroad any Cloud are scattered over all the sky but these Clouds though for a time they be empty yet because they consist of such a substance as is watry they may be and are oftentimes gathered together and give plentifull Rain Of the Colours of Clouds we have spoken in the Second Book of Fiery Meteors where those Colours and the causes of them are described which seem to be Fiery or may be thought to be Inflammations or burnings as to be Red Fiery and Yellowish But besides those there be White Black Blew and Green White clouds be thin and not very Watry so that the light received in them maketh them to appear White Black clouds be full of thick gross and earthly matter that makes them look so dark Blew clouds be full of thick drose and earthly as the Black so the light received in them maketh them to seem Blew Green clouds are altogether watry resolved into water which receiving into them the night appear Green as Water doth in a great vessel or in the Sea and Rivers Of Rayne AFter the generation of clouds is well knowne it shall not be hard to learne from whence the Rayne commeth For after the matter of the cloud being drawne up and by cold made thick as is said before heat following which is most commonly of the Southerne wind or any other wind of hot temper doth resolve it againe into Water and so it falleth in drops to give increase of fruit to the Earth and move men to give thankes to God There be small showers of small drops aud there be great stormes of great drops The showres with small drops proceed either of the small heat that resolveth the clouds or else of the great distance of the clouds from the Earth The streames with great drops contrariwise doe come of great heat resolving or melting the cloud or else of small distance from the Earth Whereof we see a plaine experiment when Water is powred forth from an high place the drops are smal but if it be not from high it will either have no droppes or very great The caus why raine falleth in round drops is both for that the parts desire the same forme that the whole hath which is round and also that so it is best preserved against all contrary qualities like as we see Water powred upon dry or greasy things to gather it selfe into roundels to avoid the contrariety of heat and drynesse It is not to be omitted that raine Water although a great part of it be drawne out of the Sea yet most commonly it is sweet not salt The caus is becaus it is drawn up in such small Vapors and that salt part is consumed by the heat of the Sunne The raine water doutlesse doth more encrease and cherish things growing on the Earth then any other Water wherewith they may be Watered becaus the raine Water retaineth much of the Sunnes heat in it that is no small comfort to all growing plants The Water that commeth from Heaven in raine will sooner come to putrifaction or stinking then any other becaus it hath been made very subtill by heat and also for that it is mixed with so many Earthly and corruptible substances Rain water that falleth in the summer by Avicens judgement is more wholesome then other Water becaus it is not so cold and moyst as other Waters be but hotter and lighter Sometime there is salt rayne when some Exhalation which is hot and dry is commixed with the Vapor whereof the rayne consisteth Somtime it is bitter when some burnt Earthly moysture is mixed with it This rayne is both unwholesome and also unfruitfull In these countreys there is great store and plenty of rayne becaus the Sunne is of such temperate heate that it
is a Well that maketh men dull-witted that drink thereof There is another that causeth men to abhor lust Lechnus a Spring of Arcadia is good against abortions In Sicilia are two Springs of which one maketh a woman fruitful and the other barren In Sardinia be hot Wells that heale sore eyes In an Isle of Pontus the River Astares overfloweth the fields in which whatsoever sheep be fed doe alwaies give black milke In Aethiopia is a Lake whose water is like oyle Also many Springs of Oyl have broken forth of the Earth which commeth of the viscosity or fatnesse of the same earth The Lake Clitory in Italy maketh men that drink of it to abhor wine The Lake Pentasium as Solinus saith is deadly to Serpents and wholsome to men Seneca writeth of certain Lakes that will bear men which cannot swim And that in Syria is a Lake in which bricks do swim and no heavy thing will sinke It is said that the River Rhene in Germany will drown bastard Children that be cast in it but drive aland them that be lawfully begotten The River in Hypanis in Sythia every day brings forth little bladders out of which flyes do come that die that same night Matrona the River of Germany as the common people saie never passeth day but he taketh some prey Of the Sea THe Sea in this treatise hath place as a mixed substance for else the element of Waters being simple were not here to be spoken of The Sea is the naturall place of the Waters into which all Rivers and other Waters are received at the length And here it is to be understood that the very proper and naturall place of the water were to cover all the Earth for so be the elements placed the Earth lowest and round about the Earth the Water about the Water the Air and about the Ayr the fire But God the most mighty and wise creator of all things that the Earth might in some parts be inhabited of men and beasts commanded the Waters to be gathered into one place that the dry land might appeare and called the dry land Earth and the gathering of Waters he called Seas In the Sea are these two things to be considered the saltnesse and the ebbing and flowing Of the saltnesse of the Sea THe saltnesse of the Sea according to Aristotles mind is caused by the Sun that draweth from it all thin and sweet Vapors to make raine leaving the rest as the setling or bottome which is salt But men of our time peradventure more truely doe not take this for the only and sufficent cause to make so great a quantity of water salt but say that the Sea by Gods wisdom is gathered into such valleyes of the Earth as were otherwise barren and unfruitfull such Earths are salt the Sea Water then mixed with that Earth must needs be Salt else Rivers by Aristotles mind should be salt as well as the Sea The Reader may choose which opinion is most probable Of the ebbing and flowing THe ebbing and flowing of the Sea as Aristotle sermeth to teach is by reason of Exhalations that be under the Water which driveth it to and fro according to contrary bounds and limits as upward and downeward wide and narrow deepe and shallow This opinion of Aristotle also as more subtil then true experience teacheth men to mislike and to ascribe the cause of ebbing and flowing to the course of the Moone which ruleth over moysture as the Sunne doth over heat for from the new Moone to the full all humors do encrease and from the full to the new Moone decrease againe Also the very true time of the ebbing and flowing may be known by the course of the Moone with whom as the Lady of moysture we will close up the fourth book of mâ—yst and watery impressions The fifth Book Of earthly Meteors or bodies perfectâ—y mixed THis last Treatise containeth such bodies whose chiefe matter is the earth and are called perfectly mixed because they are not easily resolved into the chief matter whereof they are generated These are divided into four Kinds The first be divers sorts of Earth The second be Liquors concrete The third be Metalls and Metallikes The fourth be Stones This division is not altogether perfect both for that there be many of these Minerals which partake of two kinds and also for that the names of these kinds may be said of others Yet minding as plainly as can be to declare the things themselves the controversie and cavillation of names shall not greatly trouble us especially seeing we pretend not to teach Philosophers but such as need a ruder and plainer instruction They may therefore be content with this division which shall not serve them to dispute of these matters but to understand the truth of these things that they desire Of these foure therefore we will speak orderly and generally not minding to treat of every particular kind for that were infinite but to open such universall causes as they which have wit may learn if they list to apply unto all particulars Of Earths THe Earth is an element one of the four cold and dry most gross and solid most heavy and weighty the lowest of all other in place When I say an Element I meane a simple body uncompounded This Earth is no Meteor but as it was shewed in the water to the end there should be generation of things There is no Element that we have which is pure and simple but all are mixed and compound Our fire is grosse and compound so is our aire our water and our earth but the earth notably and above the rest is mixed For the pure and naturall Earth is dry and cold but we see much to be moist and much to be hot The natural earth is black of colour but we see many Earths white many yellow and many red So that first the greatest part of the Earth is mixed with water that maketh it to cleave together with aire and some fire which make an oylie fat or clammy earth as is clay made c. Another great part is dried not into the naturall drinesse of the first quality but as a thing once mixed and after dryed either by cold as sand gravell c. or else by heat as chalke oaker c. And yet somewhat more plainly and particularly to discourse upon these causes admitting the natural colour of the Earth to be black of the water to be blue of the aire to be white and of the fire to be ruddy it followeth that upon the mixtion of these colours or chiefe domination of them all things have their colour The grosse substance of the Earth therefore being diversly mixed with other Elements and those mixtures again being eftsoones altered by divers and sometime contrary qualities hath brought forth so many kinds of earth as clay marble chalke sand
a certain watry thing and yet is not water so Exhalation hath a certain earthly nature in it but yet it is not earth For the better understanding of Vapors understand that they be as it were fumes or smokes warme and moist which will easily bee resolved into water much like to the breath that proceedeth out of a mans mouth or out of a pot of water standing on the fire These vapours are drawn up from the waters and watery places by the heat of the Sun even unto the middle region of the aire and there after divers manner of meeting with coldnesse many kind of moist Meteors are generated as sometimes clouds and raine sometime snow and hail and that such Vapours are so drawn up by the Sunne it is plaine by experience for if there be a plash of water on a smooth and hard stone standing in the heat of the Sun it will soon be drie which is none otherwise but that the Sun draweth up the water in thinne Vapors for no man is so fond to say that it can sink into stone or mettal and it is as great folly to think it is consumed to nothing for it is a general rule That that which is once a thing cannot by changing become nothing wherefore it followeth that the water on the stone as also on the earth is for the most part drawn up when the stone or earth is dryed Exhalations are as smokes that be hot and dry which because they be thinne and lighter then Vapors passe the lowest and middle Region of the aire and are carryed up even to the highest Region where for the excessive heat by neerness of the fire they are kindled and cause many kind of impressions They are also sometimes viscose that is to say clammy by reason whereof they cleaving together and not being dispersed are after divers sorts set on fire and appear sometimes like Dragons sometimes like Goats sometimes like candles sometimes like spears By that which is spoken of Vapours and Exhalations it is evident that out of the fire and aire no matter whereof Meteors should consist can be drawn because of their subtilty and thinnesse For all Exhalation is by making a grosser body more thinne but the fire we mean the elemental fire and not the fire of the Kitchin chimney is so subtil and thinne that it cannot be made thinner likewise the aire is so thinne that if it be made thinner it is changed into fire and as the fire if it were made thicker would become aire so the aire being made grosser would be turned into water Wherefore to conclude this part the great quantity of matter that causeth these Meteors is taken out of the earth and the water As for the aire and the fire they are mixed with this matteâ— as with all other things but not so abundantly that they may be said thâ— material cause of any Meteor thougâ— without them none can be generated The efficient cause of all Meteors is thaâ— caus which maketh them even as the Carpenter is the efficient cause of an house This cause is either first or second The first and efficient cause is God the worker of all wonders according to that testimonie of the Psalmist which saith Fire haile snow ice wind and storme doe his will and commandment he sendeth snow like wooll c. Almightie God therefore being the first principall and universall cause efficient of all natural works and effects is also the first cause of these effects whose profit is great and operation marvellous The second cause efficient is double either remote that is to say farre off or next of all The farther cause of them as of all other naturall effects is the same the Sun with the other Planets and Stars and the very heaven it self in which they are moved But chiefly the Sunne by whose heat all or at least wise the most part of the vapors and Exhalations are drawn up The next cause efficient as the first qualities are heat and cold which cause divers effects in Vapors Exhalations But to return to the heat of the Sun which is a very neere cause it is for this purpose two wayes considered One way as it is meane and temperate Otherwise as it is vehement and burning The meane is by which he draweth vapors out of the water and exhalations out of the earth and not onely draweth them out but also lifteth them up very high from the earth into the aire where they are turned into divers kinds of Meteors The burning heat of the Sunne is by which he burneth dissipateth and consumeth the vapors and exhalations before he draweth them up so that of them no Meteors can be generated These two heats proceed from the Sun either in respect of the place or the time but most properly according to the casting of his beames either directly or undirectly In place where the Sunnes beames strike directly against the earth and the water the heat is so great that it burneth up the Exhalations and Vapours so that there are no fiery Meteors much lesse watery as it is in the South parts of the world under and neere to the Equinoctiall line But in places where the beames are cast indirectly and obliquely and that where they are not too nigh to the direct beams nor too far off from them there is a moderate heat drawing out great abundance of matter so that in those Countries many Meteors of many sorts are generated as in the far North parts are few but watry impressions Also in Autumn and Spring are oftner Meteors seene then in Summer and Winter except it be in such places where the Summer and Winter are of the temper of the Spring and Autumne Let this be sufficient for the Efficient causes of impressions as well first and principall as second and particular Concerning the formal and finall cause we have little to say because the one is so secret that it is known of no man the other so evident that it is plaine to all men The essentiall Form of all substances Gods wisedome comprehendeth the universall chiefe and last End of all things is the glory of God Middle Ends if they may be so called of these impressions are manifold profits to Gods creatures to make the earth fruitfull to purge the aire to set forth his power to threaten his vengeance to punish the world to move to repentance all which are referred to one end of Gods eternall glory ever to be prased Amen Of the places in which they are generated THe places in which Meteors are caused be either the aire or the earth in the air be generated rain hail snow dew blazing stars thunder lightning c. In the earth be welles springs earthquakes metals minerals c. made and as it were in their mothers belly begotten and fashioned But for the better understanding hereof such as have not tasted the principles of Philosophy must consider that there be foure
elements Earth Water Aire and Fire one compassing another round about saving that the waters by Gods commandement are gathered into one place that the land might appear The highest is the spheare of the Fire which toucheth the hollownesse of the moons heaven the next is the aire which is in the hollownesse of the fire the aire within his hollownesse comprehendeth the water and the earth which both make but one spheare or Globe or as the common sort may understand it one ball So each element is within another as scales of a perch are one above anothes or to use a grosse similitude as the peeles of an Onion are one within another after the same sort from the highest heaven to the earth that is lowest one part that is greater compasseth round about another that is lesser But for this present purpose it is to be knowne that the aire is divided into three regions the highest the middle and the lowest The highest because it is next to the region of the fire is exceeding hot the lowest being next the earth and waters is temperate and by repercussion or striking backe of the Sunne beames waxeth hot and by absence of them is made cold being subject to winter and summer The middle region of the aire is alwaies exceeding cold partly because the sunne beames cannot be cast back so high and partly because the cold that is there betweene the heat above and the heat beneath it is so kept in that it can not get out so that it must needs be excessively cold for the water and the earth being both cold Elements after the Sunne setting in the night season doe coole the aire even to the middle region But in the morning the Sunne rising warmeth the aire so farre as his beames which are beaten backe from the earth and the water can extend and reach which is not so high as the middle region and by heat on both sides is inclosed and kept saving that a little thereof falleth downe in the night which the next day with much more is driven back againe Wherefore this region being so cold is dark and cloudy in so much that some doting Divines have imagined purgatory to be there in the middle region of the aire In the highest region be generated Comets or blazing stars and such like of divers sorts In the middle region clouds rain stormes winds c. In the lowest region dew frost hoar-frost mists bright rods candles burning about graves and gallowses where there is store of clamy fattie or oily substance also lights and flaming fires seen in fields c. And thus much for the general causes of all Meteors THE SECOND BOOKE Of Fiery Meteors A Fiery impression is an Exhalation set on fire in the highest or lowest region of the aire or else appearing as though it were set on fire and burning They are therefore divided into flames and Apparitions Flames are they which burn indeed and are kindled with fire These are discerned by four ways by the fashion of them by their place by the abundance of their matter and by the want of their matter Their placing is after the abundance and scarcity of the matter whereof they consist for if it be great heavy and grosse it cannot be carried so far as the middle region of the ayre and therefore is set on fire in the lowest region if it be not so great light and full of heat it passeth the middle region and ascendeth to the highest where it is easily kindled and set on fire According to their divers fashions they have divers names for they are called burning stubble torches dauncing or leaping Goates shooting or falling starres or candles burning beames round pillars spears shields Globes or bowles firebrands lampes flying Dragons or fire drakes painted pillars or broched steeples or blazing starres called Comets The time when these impressions doe most appeare is the night-season for if they were caused in the day time they could not be seen no more then the stars be seen because the light of the Sunne which is much greater dimmeth the brightness of them being lesser Of the generation of the impression called burning stubble or sparkles of fire The generation of this Meteor is this when the matter of the Exhalation is in all parts alike thin but not compacted or knit together then some part of it being caryed up into the highest Region by the fiery heat is set on fire before another part that cometh up after it and so being kindled by little and little flieth abroad like sparkles out of a chimney insomuch that the common people suppose that an infinite number of stars fall down whereas it is nothing else but the Exhalation that is thin kindled in many parts sparkling as when sawdust or cole-dust is cast into the fire Of Torches TOrches or firebrands are thus generated when the matter of the exhalation is long and not broad being kindled at one end thereof in the highest region of the aire it burneth like a torch or firebrand and so continueth till all the matter be burnt up and then goeth out none otherwise then a Torch when all the stuffe is spent must needs burne no longer Of dancing or leaping Goates DAncing Goates are caused when the exhalation is divided into two parts as when two torches be seen together and the flame appeareth to leap or dance from one part to the other much like as bals of wild fire dance up and down in the water Of shooting and falling stars A Flying shooting or falling star is when the exhalation being gathered as it were on a round heape and yet not throughly compacted in the highest part of the lowest region of the ayre being kindled by the sodaine cold of the middle region is beaten backe and so appeareth as though a starre should fall or slide from place to place Sometime it is generated after another sort for there is an exhalation long and narrow which being kindled at one end burneth swiftly the fire running from end to end as when a silk thred is set on fire at the one end Some say it is not so much set on fire as that it is direct under some Star in the firmament and so receiving light of that star seemeth to our eies to be a Star Indeed sometimes it may be so but that iâ— is not so alwayes nor yet most commonly it may be easily demonstrated The Epicureans as they are very grosse in determining the chiefe goodness so they are very fond in assigning the cause of this Meteor For they say that the stars fall out of the firmament that by the fall of them both thunder and lightning are caused for the lightning say they is nothing else but the shining of that Starre that falleth which falling into a waterie cloud and being quenched in it causeth that great thunder even as hot Iron maketh a noise if it be cast into cold water But it is
but consisteth of innumerable smal drops so that except the light of the stars were stronger it can in them express no uniform images of them as it doth in glasses and in the water Notwithstanding in Writers of Wonders we read some such likething sometime to have chanced There hath been often seen many Suns in the day-time and after the Sun setting at the rising of the full Moon there have appeared many Moons which was by this means that the same Cloud that received the Sun-beams in the morning tarried in the same place and at the Moons rising was ready also to receive her image Of Wonderfull Apparitions WE will close this Book with a brief declaration of the natural Causes of many things that are seen in the Air very wonderfull and strange to behold which in these latter Years have been often seen and beheld to the great admiration of all men not without the singular providence of God to forewarne us of many dangers that hang over us in these most Perillous Times The apparitions of which as it is most wonderfull so the searching of the Cause to us is most difficult a great deal the rather because no man hath hitherto enterprised to my knowledge to seek out any cause of them but all men have taken them as immediate miracles without any natural meane or cause to procure them And I truly do acknowledge that they are sent of God as wonderfull signs to declare his Power and move us to amendment of life indeed miraculous but not yet so that they want a natural cause for if they be well weighed and considered it is not hard to find that they differ much from such Miracles as are recorded in the Scripture and admitted of Divines So that as I abhorre the Opinion of Epicurus to think that such things come by Chance but rather by the determined purpose of Gods providence so I consent not with them that suppose when any thing is derived from any natural caus God the chief and best Cause of all things is excluded Some of these Wonderfull Apparitions consist of Circles and Rainbowes of divers fashions and placings as one within another the edge of one touching another one dividing or going thorow another with like placing of small Circles about great Circles or parts of small Circles some with the ends upward some downward some aside and some across but all for the most part in uniform order constituted or placed for the order of them pleasant to behold but for the strangness somwhat fearfull Such a like Apparition is made with the Suns or Moons images joined unto these Circles set also in good and uniform order The cause of all these is the meeting together of all those several Causes that make the Circles Rainbowes Streames and Images of the Sun or Moon which joined all together make the wonderfull sight of Rainbowes positions of Circles Crosses and divers Lights which pertain to the knowledg of Optice and Catoptrice that teach how by divers refractions and reflects ons of beams such visions are caused So that he which will know how they are generated must return into the several Treatises of Rainbowes Circles Streams Images of the Sun or Moons and if in them he find not knowledg sufficient to instruct him I must send him to the Demonstrations of Perspective where he shall want nothing Another sort of them no less often beheld within these few years then the former but a great deal more strange and wonderfull to look upon are the Sights of Armies fighting in the Air of Castles Cities and Towns with whole Countries having in them Hils Vallies Rivers Woods also Beasts Men and Fouls Monsters of which there are no such kindes on the Earth and finally all manner of things and actions that are on the Earth as Burials Processions Judgments Combates Men Women Children Horses Crowns Armes of certain Noble men and Countries Weapons of all sorts somtimes Starsâ— Angels as they are painted with the Image of Christ crucified beseiging of Castles and Townes many things and gestures done by men or beasts thevery Similitude of Persons known to the Beholders as of late was seen the very Image of the Emperour Charles insomuch that they which beheld it put off their Caps thinking verily it had been he and of John Frederick Prince Elector of Saxony who that time was Prisoner with the Emperour Also the Image of smal Crosses which hath been not only in the Air but also on the Earth on mens apparell on dishes platters pots and all other things so that the Jewes have been full angry that they could neither wash nor rub them out of their apparell In Germany also Fires and many such things as it were long stories seen in the Air. All these wonderfull Apparitions may be caused two manner of ways the one Artificially the other Naturally Artificially by certain glasses and Instruments made according to a secret part of that knowledg which is called Catoptrice and so peradventure some of them have been caused but The most part doubtless Naturally when the disposition of the Air hath been such that it hath received the image of many things placed and done on Earth And because it is apt to receive divers images as well in one place as in another these monstrous forms and strange actions or stories proceed of the joining of divers forms and actions as if two Histories were confusedly painted in one the whole Picture would be strange or as the Poet saith if a Painter to a mans head should sett a horses neck and after divers feathers Sometimes also one image is multiplyed in the Air into many or infinite as are letters and crosses which fill the Air even beneath And the light of the Sun received into little parts maketh to appear as it were many smal stars Let this suffice concerning these wonderfull Apparitions once again admonishing the Reader though I have enterprised to declare these by natural Reason yet verily believing that not so much as one Sparrow falleth to the ground without Gods providence I do also ackowledg Gods providence bringeth these to pass to such ends as before I have shewed using these causes as meanes and instruments to do them The Fourth Book Of Watery Impressions THose be Watery Impressions that consist most of Water In the Treaty of them are wont to be handled these Impression namely Clouds Rain Dew hoar Frost Hail Snow Springs and the great Sea it self Of Clouds A Cloud is a Vapor cold and moist drawn out of the Earth and Waters by the heat of the Sun into the middle region of the Air where by cold it is so knit together that it hangeth untill either the weight or some resolution causeth it to fall down The place wherein the Clouds do hang is said to be in the middle region of the Air because men see it is necessary that there should be a cold which should make those Vapors
gathereth many Vapors and by immoderate heat doth not consume them But in the East parts in some hoâ— Countrys it never or seldom is seen to rayne as in Egypt and Syria but in stead of rayne Egypt hath the River Nilus whose overflowings doe marvilously fatten the Earth In Syria and other like Countries they have more plentifull dew then we have which doth likewise make their Earth exceeding fruitful Seneca testifieth that the Rain soaketh no deeper into the Earth then ten Foot deep Of the Signes of Rain FIrst If the Skie be red in the morning it is a token of Rain because those Vapors which cause the Redness will be shortly resolved into Rain If a darke cloud be at the Sun rising in which the Sunne soon after is hid it will dessolve it and rayne will follow If then appeare a cloud and after Vapors are seen to ascend up to it that betokeneth rayne If the Sunne or Moone looke pale looke for rayne If the Sunne in the East seem greater then commonly he appeareth it is a signe of many Vapours which will bring rayne If the Sunne be seen very earely or few Stars appeare in the night it betokeneth rayne The often changing of the Winds also sheweth tempest The most sure and certaine signe of raine is the Southerne wind which with his warmenesse alwayes resolveth the clouds into raine When there is no dew at such times as by nature of the time there should be raine followeth for the matter of the dew is turned into the matter of watry Clouds If in the West about the Sunne setting there appeare a black cloud it will rayn that night becaus that cloud shall want heat to disperse it When much dust is raised up and when the woods make a great noyse some tempest is towards Hard stones will be moyst and sweate against rayne lamps and candles by sparkling frogs crying Trees breaking leaves falling and dust clottering forewarne us of tempest Fleas flyes and gnats bite sore toward a tempest Kinâ— feed greedily birds seeke their victuals more busily for in the grosse Ayre disposed to rayn their stomacks are hotter and they more hungry But these kind of signes pertaine not so properly to Meteorologie as to Mariners and Husbandry which have a great many more then these And Virgil in the first booke of Georgikes hath a great number for them that list to learn Wherefore let these hitherto suffice Of monstrous or prodigious rayne HItherto we have made mention onely of naturall rayne and that which is common which no man doth marvell at But there is some time such rayne that worthily may be wondred at as when it raineth wormes frogges fishes blood milke flesh stones wheat iron wooll bricke and quicksilver For historic maketh mention that at divers times it hath rayned such things whose naturall caus for the most part we will goe about to expresse notwithstanding accounting them among such wonders as God sendeth to be considered for such ends as we have before declared Wormes and Frogges may thus be generated The fat Exhalations are drawn up into the Ayr by a temperature of hot and moyst such vermine may be generated in the Air as they are one the Earth without copulation of male and female Or else that with the Exhalations and Vapors their Seed and Egges are drawn up which being in the clouds brought to form fall down among the rain Likewise the spawn of fishes being drawn up maketh fishes to rain out of the clouds The vehement heat of the Sunne in Summer and specially in hot Countries draweth milke out of the Paps of Beasts and Cattel which being carryed up in Vapors and dissolved againe into milke falleth downe like rain After the same manner the Sun also from places where blood hath been spilt draweth up great quantity of blood and so it raineth blood It raineth flesh when great quantity of blood being drawn up it is clotted together and seemeth to be flesh Avicen saith That a whole Calfe fell out of the Air and some would make it seem credible that of Vapors and Exhalations with the power of heavenly bodies concurring a Calfe might be made in the Clouds But I had rather thinke that this Calfe was taken up in some storme of Whirlwinde and so let fall again then agree to so monstrous a generation It is a great deale more reasonable that stones of earthly matter gathered in clouds should be generated as we said before of the Tunder-bolt Yet some men think that wind in Caves of the Earth breaking upward violently carryeth before it earth and stones into the aire which cannot long abide but fall down and are counted among prodigious raine Exhalations that be earthly and drawn out of clay have much grosse substance in them which gathered together and by great heat burned in the clouds make brick which is no great marvell He that hath seen an Eggs-shel full of dew drawn up by the Sun into the Air in a May morning will not think it incredible that Wheat and other Graine should be drawne up in much hotter Countries then ours is much rather the Meale or Flower which is lighter A certaine mostinesse like Wooll as is upon Quinces Willowes and other young Fruits and Trees is drawne up of the Sunne among the Vapors and Exhalations which being clottered together falleth downe like locks of Wooll Quicksilver all men know with small heat will be resolved into most thin Vapors whereof when quantity is drawne up it falleth downe againe As it is read that once at Rome it rained Quicksilver wherewith the Brazen Money being rubbed it looked like silver Titus Livius maketh mention that it rained chalk whereof the cause cannot be hid to them that read how stone and brick come in the Air. Iron hath also rained out of the clouds and sundry times as Histories witness whereof this hath been the cause The general matter of all mettals which is quicksilver and brimstone with the special matter of mixtion that maketh Iron were all drawu together and there concocted into the mettal so came the strange Rain of Iron Avicen saith he saw a piece of Iron that fell out of the clouds that weighed about an hundred pound weight whereof very good swords were afterwards made Of Dew DEw is that Vapour which in Spring and Autumn is drawn up by the Sun in the daytime which because it is not carried into the middle region of the Air abiding in the lower region by cold of the night is condensed into water and falleth down in very smal drops There is common Dew and sweet Dew One kinde of sweet Dew is called Manna being white like Sugar which is made of thick and clammy Vapors which maketh it so to fall thick and white It falleth only in the East parts As for that Manna which God rained to the Israelites it was altogether miraculous
In Arabia as Plinius writeth is a very precious kinde of Dew that is called Ladanum which falling upon the herb Cusus and mixed with the juice of that herb which Goats do eate is gathered off Goats hairs and kept for a treasure There is another kinde of sweet Dew that falieth in England called the Meldews which is as sweet as honey being of such substance as honey is it is drawn out of sweet herbs and flowers There is also a bitter kinde of Dew that falleth upon herbs and lieth on them like branne or meal namely because it is of an Earthly Exhalation and so remaineth when the moisture is drawn away This Dew killeth herbs The common Dew drunk of Cattle doth rott them because the matter is full of viscosity bringing them to a fluxion There be Three things that hinder Dew from falling that is great heat great cold and wind for Dew falleth in the most temperate calme time Of Hoare-Frost HOare frost or white frost is nothing else but dew congealed by overmuch cold The South and East wind do cause dew but the North and Northern winds do freeze the Vapors and so it becommeth hoar frost which if that excessive cold had not beene should have turned into dew The dew and the hoare frost agree in three things namely in matter in quality of time and place of the generation In matter they agree for they are both generated of a subtill and thin Vapor and also small in quantity In quality of time they consent for both are made in a quiet and calm time for if there were great wind it would drive away the matter and so could there be no generation Thirdly they are both generated in the lowest Region of the Air for as Aristotle affirmeth upon the high hills there is neither dew nor hoar frost They differ also in three things For the hoare frost is congealed before it be turned into water so is not the dew Secondly The dew is generated in temperate weather the white frost in cold weather Last of all hot Winds as the South and East do cause dew but cold winds as the North and West do cause hoare frost Hoare frost doth often stinke because of the stinking matter whereof it consisteth which is drawn out of lakes and other muddy and stinking places Of Hayle HAyle is a hote Vapor in the middle Region of the Air by the cold of that Region made thick into a cloud which falling down to the sudden cold of the lowest Region is congealed into Ice There be so many kinds of Haile as there be of raine The fashion of haile is sometime round which is a token that it was generated in the middle region of the Air or very near it for falling from high the corners are worn away When the Haile stones are square or three-cornered the haile was generated neere the earth Oftentimes there is heard a great sound in the Cloud as it were of Thunder before haile or of an Army fighting c. The cause is That Vapors of contrary qualities being inclosed in the Cloud do strive to break out and make a noyse even as cold water doth being put into a seething pot In Spring and Harvest-time is often haile seldome in Summer and Winter In winter there want hot Vapors in Summer the lowest region is too hot to congeale the raine falling down In Spring and Autumne there want neither hot Vapors to resist the cold nor sufficient cold to harden the drops of that hot shower of raine The haile stones are sometimes greater and sometimes lesser greater with greater cold and lesser with lesser cold There is seldom haile in the night for want of hot vapors to be drawn up Sometime haile and rain fall together when the latter end of the cloud for want of cold in the lowest region is not congealed Haile-stones are not so cleare as Ice because they are made of grosse and earthy vapours Ice is congealed of clear water Haile is sooner resolved into water then Snow because it is of a more sudden and swift generation Of Snow SNow is a cold congealed by great cold before it be perfectly resolved from vapours into water Snow is white not of the proper colour but by receiving the light into it and so many small parts as in fome or the white of an egge beaten Snow is often upon high hills lyeth long there because their tops are cold as they be neer to the middle Region of the Air for oftentimes it raineth in the valley when it showeth on the Hills Snow melting on the high Hills and after frozen again becommeth 〈◊〉 hard that it is a stone and is called Christall Other matter of Snow because they are common with Rain are needlesse to be spoken of To be short feet is generated even as Snow but of lesse cold or else beginneth to melt in the falling Snow causeth things growing to be fruitfull and encrease because the cold driveth heat unto the roots and so cherisheth the plants Of Springs and Rivers THe generation of Springs is in the bowels of the Earth and therefore something must be said of the body of the earth The earth though it be solid and massie yet hath it many hollow gutters and veines in which is alwaies aire to avoid emptinesse for the ignorant in Phylosophie must be admonished that all things are full nothing is empty for nature abhorreth emptinesse so that where nothing else is there is Air and Vapors which by cold as it hath often been said will be resolved into drops as we see experience in marble Pillars and such like hard stones toward raine This Air and Vapors therefore being turned into drops of water these drops sweat out of the earth and find some issue at the length where many being gathered together make great abundance of water which is called a Fountaine or Spring The cause why such Springs do run continually is because that Air can never want in those veines which by cold will alwaies be turned into water so that as fast as the water runneth forth so fast is aire againe received into the place whereby it commeth to passe that so many Springs are perpetuall and never dryed but if any be dryed up it is in a hot Summer and such Springs also they be whose generation is not deep in the earth and therefore the Vapors may be made dry and the earth warm so the Spring may fail There be foure kinds of springs fountaines brookes Rivers and lakes Of Fouutaines FOuntaines be small springs which serve for wels and conduits when there is but one place where the Water is generated and that is not very abundant either because it is of small compasse or small veines and not many Of Brookes BRookes boornes or fordes be small streames of Water that run in a channell like a river They are caused when either the spring occupieth a great compasse
to the body of a tree also with armesâ— branches leaves and fruits This Metal Silver lacketh sufficient heat and therefore commeth neither to the colour solidity nor perfection of Gold and is generated in cold countries neer unto the North and South Poles in so great quantity that the Husbandmen when they plow their ground turn up silver among he clods in their daily labours which they do hide and conceal least the greedy Princes for Coveteousness of the Mettal should overturn and destroy their land The Gold Mines are contrariwise most found in the hot Countries of India and Aethiopia because in them is sufficient of heat for that unhappy generation This Silver also the Alchymists would fain make by Aiâ— but Mercury the chief Master of the Work is so subtile and so sly that nothing can hold him nothing can kill him for if the glass be not very thick he will soon break out of prison and so there is nothing left Of Copper COpper in colour comming neerest to Gold being not so solid nor massy for of all Metal Gold is the heavyest giveth way to Corruption being infected with that green Mineral Copperas Hereof be divers kindes Brass Latin and such like which differ in digestion the Copper being purest is of best digestion and neerest unto Gold and so the rest in like degrees Copper is most like Silver in the weight and in the hammering wherefore the Alchymists have learned to make it white that it deceiveth mens sight and handling but the Gold miths do easily try it and by the taste of counterfeit Silver make Copper again Copper or Brass doth always grow neer to the Mine of Copperas which running with it in the digestion or natural concoction hindereth it of perfection maketh it to stink and to be eaten of a green rust Much adoe the Alchymists have to tuâ—n it into Gold if it might be they dispute very reasonably and conclude almost necessarily in their Talk that it may be converted into Gold as a body that wanteth little of perfection which may be easily added unto it but in conclusion of the work it is an harder matter to bring to pass then it was to purpose before they had done it to build an Abbey at every Miles end upon Salisbury Plain as one was minded Of Tinne TInne whereof great plenty groweth in the West parts of England in beauty and colour commeth neerest to Silver and of Silver wanteth nothing but solidity and hardness for Tinne is raw and undigested metall also very porose and compact which causeth it to crash when it is broken or bitten so it faileth of heat in the commixtion and also sufficient digestion in the Earth otherwise it is a fair and profitable metall to serve the use of them unto whom Silver and Gold are not so plentifull Of Lead LEad also found in great abundance within this Realm is a raw and undigested metall as Tinne is but yet of better digestion then commixtion for it is mixed with a gross earthy substance which maketh it to be in colour so black and so fowl to corrupt so that of the same Fumes and Exhalations which if they had been pure and well digested if the place and matter would have suffered should have ben concrete into Silver for lack of the same Lead is generated which comming plentifully doth better service then Silver Of Iron IRon the most necessary and profitable of all other metals and yet as ill used of many as any other is generated of such substance as Silver is but mixed with a red Mineral which â—ateth it with red rust and also being of too extreame digestion passing â—ll other metals in hardness And as other metals to the perfection of Silver want sufficient concoction whereby â—hey come not to the same hardness â—o Iron passeth and exceedeth Silver in â—mmoderate digestion But though it â—ome not to the perfection of Silver God forbid that all Iron had been turâ—ed into Silver for then we should â—ore have missed it then silver or gold â—e want of which would hinder us â—othing at all Of Quick-silver THough Quick-silver be no metal yet because it is the mother of all metals something is here to be spoken of it There be divers and sundry opinions both of the generation and also the qualities of it which make the generation hard to find out For if the quality were certainly agreed upon there were an easier way found to try out the generation Some affirm that it is exceeding hot and that they would prove by the swift peircing thereof into other things that be porose Others say it is exceeding cold and that they prove by the exceeding weight of it As for the peircing they say it is caused of the exceeding moistness of which quality both parts dâ— grant that it is Concerning the generation some have said that it is purâ— and Elemental water some again have thought that it droppeth out oâ— heaven and is a part of the heavenlâ— stance And others say that it is generated in the Clouds and falleth down in the feilds in a Circle on those round Circles which are seen in many feilds that ignorant People affirm to be the rings of the Fairies dances It is certain that Quick-silver hath divers times faln out of the Clouds as we have declared in the Treatise of Wonderfull and Marvellous Raine but whether it so fall in â—ircles it is doubtfull The most probable opinion is that it is generated of moyst Vapors of the Earth coacted by cold much like to Water as Brimstone is of hot fumes coacted by cold much like to fire And thus much of metals Of Stones STones the fourth kind of Earthly mixed bodies have two manner of generations by most contrary qualities for heat doth harden moist bodies into stones and we see that clay it maketh exceeding hard brick Also the Thunderbolts in the clouds are generated by heat as before hath been shewed But cold doth by congealing generate many more stones then heat doth for the most part of all the stones that are digged out of the Earth are generated by cold which is able to convert any other kind of mixed substance into stone as hath beene partly shewed in the nature of wels and springs of which there be some in England which by their cold turne wood or any like thing into stones I have seene a peece of rotten wood which to sight was very light and like wood but in handling a very stone that was taken out of such a Wel. Also of other things taken out of the Earth turned into stones I have seene and found my selfe flâ—â—s with head and wings very hard stones also I have seen a heart a birds tongue a beasts stone a peare a plumme and divers other things turned into hard stones Of divers kinds of stones STones may first be divided into rude and beautifull the rude containe those great Rocks which are generated by many small parts
foot untill the time of tide or flood returning covered the place with Waters again But in the land where this Earthquake swalloweth up any City or Country there appeareth nothing in the place thereof but a marvellous wide and deep gulfe or hole Aristotle maketh mention of divers places and regions that were overthrown with this kind of Earthquake The fourth kind is when great mountaines are cast up out of the Earth or else when some part of the land sinketh down and in stead thereof arise Rivers Lakes or Fires breaking out with smoake and Ashes It causeth also overflowings of the Sea when the Sea bottome is lifted up and by this means arise many Islands in the Sea that never were seen before These and other such miracles are often found In the Writers of Histories also in the Philosophers as Aristotle Seneca and Plinius Nevertheless the effects of some as most notable it shall not be unprofitable to recite Plato in his Dialogue intituled Timeus maketh mention by the way of a wonderfull Earthquake whereby not only Africa was rent asunder from Europe and Asia as it is indeed at this day except a little neck by the red Sea the Sea entring between them that now is called Mare Mediterraneum but also a wonderfull great Island which he affirmeth was greater then Africa and Asia both called Atlantis was swallowed up and covered by the Waters in so much that on the Sea called Atlanticum for a great while after no Ship could sayl by reason that the same huge Sea by resolution of the Earth of that mighty Iland was all turned into mudde The famous I le of Sicilia was also somtime a part of Italy and by Earthquake rent asunder from itâ— Seneca maketh mention of two Ilands Theron and Therea that in his time first appeared It should seeme both by Aristotle and also by Herodotus that Egypt in ancient time was a gulph of the Sea and by Earthquake made a drie land During the reignâ— of Tiberius the Emperor twelve notable Cities of Asia were overthrown in one night c. How so great VVinds come to be under the Earth THe great Caves and Dennes of the Earth must needs be full of Ayr continually but when by the heat of the Sunne the moysture of the Earth is resolved many Exhalations are generated as well within the Earth as without and whereas the places were full before so that they could receive no more except part of that which was in them were let out in such countries where the Earth hath few pores or else where they are stopped with moysture it must needs follow that these Exhalations striving to get out must needs rend the Earth in some place or lift it up so that either they may have free passage or else room enough to abide in Of signes and tokens that go before an Earthquake most commonly THe first is the raging of the Sea when there are no tempestuous Winds to stirre it yea when the Ayr is most calme without Wind. The caus why the Sea then rageth is that the wind beginneth to labour for passage that way and finding none is sent back and soon after shaketh the land The second signe is calmness of the Ayr and cold which commeth to pass by reason that the Exhalation that should be abroad is within the Earth The third signe is said to be a long thinne strake of cloud seen when the skie is clear after the setting of the Sun This say they is caused by reason that the Exhalation or Vapor which is the matter of clouds is gone into the Earth Others affirm that it is the Exhalation that breaketh out of some narrow hole of the Earth out of which the rest of the wind cannot issue neither will it waite the time wherefore within a while after it seeketh and maketh it self by sudden eruption a broader way to be delivered out of prison Also the Sunne certaine daies before it appeareth dimme because the Winds that should have purged and dissolved the grosse Ayr that causeth this dimness to our eyes is enclosed within the bowels of the Earth The Water in the bottome of deepe wells is troubled and the savour thereof infected because the pestilent Exhalations that have been long inclosed within the Earth doe then beginne a little to be sent abroad For thereof cometh it that in many places where Earthquakes have been great abundance of smoak flame and ashes is cast out when the abundance of brimstone that is under the ground through violent motion is set on fire and breaketh forth Finally who knoweth not what stinking Minerals and other poysonous stuff doe grow under the Earth wherefore it is no wonder if Well-water before an Earthquake be infected but rather it is to be marvelled if after an Earthquake there follow not a grievous Pestilence when the whole mass of infection is blown abroad Last of all there is heard before it in the time of it and after it a great noise and sound under the Earth a terrible groaning and a very Thundring yea somtimes when there followeth no Earthquake at all when as the wind without shaking of the Earth findeth a way to passe out at And these for the most part or at least some of them are forewarnings that the most fearfull Earthquake will follow then the which there is no naturall thing that bringeth men into a greater feare Cato was very curious to confesse himselfe that he repented that ever he went by water when as he might have gone by land But what land can be sure if it be the Lords will by this work of his to shake it what building so strong that can defend us when the more strong the more danger the higher the greater fall Of Thunder THunder is a sound caused in the clouds by the breaking out of a hot and dry Exhalation beating against the edges of the cloud It is often heard in Spring and Summer by reason that the heat of the Sun then draweth up many Exhalations which meeting in the middle region of the Air with moyst and cold Vapors are together with them inclosed in a hollow cloud but when the hot Exhalation cannot agree with the coldness of the place by this strife being driven together made stronger and kindled it will straight break out which sudden and violent eruption causeth the noyse which we call Thunder A Similitude is put by great Authors of moist wood that cracketh in the fire we may adde hereunto the breaking of an egge in the fire of an apple or any like thing for whatsover holdeth and withholdeth inclosed any hot wind so that it can have no vent it will seek it self a way by breaking the skin shell or case It were no ill comparison to liken Thunder to the sound of a gun which be both caused of the same or very like causes The sound of Thunder is divers
the cloud is thicker some yellow and whitish when the cloud is thinner and so other colours are caused likewise whereof you may read the proper cause in the colours of clouds and other like parts of this Treatise The common people call it the descending of the holy Ghost or our Ladies Assumption because these things are painted after such a 〈◊〉 Others say that it is raine striking down in another place as though they 〈◊〉 see the drops falling And they are 〈◊〉 altogether deceived but in the time for soon after it will raine because this impression appeareth out of a watry cloud They are called by divers names as Rods Wands Cords of Tents unto which they are not touch unlike staves and little pillars when they seeme greater and thicker many being ioyned together The Rainebow the Circles and these light Beams are all of one manner of generation in so much that if you divide the Circle it shall be a Rainbow if you draw it streight in length it maketh streames or beames Herein they agree namely in forme and matter but they differ in outward form which we may call fashion as the one is round the other halfe round and the third direct straight or falling aslope Also they differ in place about which they stand for streames are onely about the Sunne Rainebowes about the Sunne often and seldome about the Moon but circles both about the Sunne and the Moon and also about any other of 〈◊〉 the Starres yet rather and oftner about bright Starres To make an end of these streams they appear diversly after the fashion and place wherin the cloud hangeth in respect of the sunne for sometimes they are seen only in the edge of a cloud all the breadth of that cloud sometime thorow the midst of a cloud being thinner 〈◊〉 then in other parts and then they are spred round about like a tent or pavillion used in War They are most commonly seen in such times as there 〈◊〉 abundancee of raine which they by their apparition do signifie not yet to be ended And thus much concerning direct light beames called Roddes c. Of many Sunnes IT is strange and marvelous to behold the likelyhood of that which Alexander the Great sending word to Darius said to be impossible that Two Sunnes should rule the World But oftentimes men have seen as they thought in the firmament not only two Sunnes but oftener three Sunnes and many more in number thought not so often appearing These how wonderfull soever they appear proceed of a natural cause which we will endevour to expresse They are nothing else but Idols or Images of the Sun represented in an equall smooth and watery cloud placed on the side of the Sunne and somtimes one both sides into which the Sunne beams being received as in a glasse expresse the likenesse of fashion and light that is in the Sunne appearing as though there were many Sunnes whereas indeed there is but one and all the rest are images This thick and watery cloud is not said to be under the Sunne for then it would make the Circles called crowns or garlands it is not opposite to the Sunne for then would it make the Rainbow but it is said to be on the side where the image may be best represented Also it may not be too far off for then the beams will be too feeble to be reflected neither yet too neer for if it so be the Sunne will disperse it but in a competent and middle distance for so representation of many Sunnes is caused They are most often seene in the morning and evening about the rising or going down of the Sunne seldome at noone time or about the midst of the day because the heat will soone dissolve them yet have there been some seen which began in the morning and continnued all the day long unto the evening Somtimes there appeare many little Suns like unto little starres which are caused after the same sort as we do see a mans face to be expressed in all the pieces of a broken glasse So when the cloud hath many separations there appeare many Sunnes on one side of the true Sun somtimes great and somtimes little as the parts of the cloud separated are in quantity They do naturally betoken tempest and rayne to follow because they cannot appeare but in a watery disposition of the Ayre Also if they appeare on the South-side of the Sunne they signifie a greater tempest then if they appeare on the North-side The reason is alleadged because the Southerne Vapor is sooner resolved into Water then is the Northerne For a supernaturall signification they have oftentimes been noted to have portended the contention of Princes of kingdomes As not long before the Contention of Galba Otho and Vitellius for the Empire of Rome there appeared three Sun Also of late toward the slaughter of Lewis King of Hungary were seen three Suns betokening three Princes that contended for the kingdome namely Ferdinnando since Emperour John Vayvode and the great Turke Of many Moones AFter the treaty of many Suns it were not hard for any man without farther instruction to know the natural Cause of many Moons For they are likewise Images of the Moon represented in an equal Cloud which is watry smooth and polished even like a glass Some call them as Plinius saith night-Suns because they joined with the light of the true Moon give a great shining light to drive away the shadow and darkness of the night It were superfluous to write more of their Causes or Effects which are all one with those that have been declared of the Suns It may be doubted why the other stars do not likewise expness their image in watry Clouds and so the number of them as to our sight should be multiplyed It may be Answered that their light or beams are too feeble and weak to express any such Similitude or likeness in the watry Clouds For although they have garlands or circles about them that are caused in a Vapour that is under them yet it is manifest that this Apparition hath not need of so strong a light as is required to print the images of them in the Clouds Again the Garlands are direct under and therefore apter to receive such Apparition It may be again Objected that the Stars have their Image perfectly and sufficiently expressed in glasses here on the Earth yea and at the day-time when their light is either none or most feeble and weak as we see it is used at Midsummer to behold that great star called Syrius in a glass even at Noon-days Also we see every night the image of the Stars in calm and quiet standing waters then what should let but that their images might also be expressed in watry Clouds Hereto may be answered that the Let is in the Cloud which is neither so hard as is the glass nor yet so continual as is the water